07/11/2013

Income Decides Obamacare Subsidies In Torrance, California

In
2012, I earned only $25,000, but I have $300,000 in stocks. I have individual
health insurance. Will I be ineligible for a subsidy beginning in January
because I am presently insured, or because I have large assets?

If you have not heard, there
still are many questions to ask and problems to resolve regarding the
Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare.

The states have their own part
to play under the ACA (and may delay putting certain changes into effect until
2015). Closer to home, there is still the matter of how it affects you, the
individual, and how you and your family can plan for your health insurance
under the law.

Indeed, the perennial problem
many retirees and elderly Americans face is having more assets “on paper” than
they do in terms of spendable income. That only makes sense because you planned
to have a nest egg sustain your retirement. Now that you have that nest egg,
you draw from it only what you need.

As far as ACA is concerned, it
is important to know that ACA requires health insurance and will soften the
blow with subsidized insurances (when purchased via a health insurance
exchange). The government subsidies are not based on your assets, but only on
your income.

As a result, anything you earn
from the stocks you own, for example, is still income. However, assets in IRAs
or plain old bank accounts will not count against you in terms of insurance. In
other words, the nest egg is not meant to be threatened by the health insurance
requirement.

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